Program Awards
2023 Mentor of the Year: Tamara Henschell
The 2023 honored graduate students are Sutton Bauman (left) receiving the Emerging Excellence Award, Katie Motherwell (center) for the Outstanding Clinician Award and Charles Totten (right) for the Outstanding Student Award.
Mentor of the Year | Outstanding Clinician | Outstanding Student | Emerging Excellence | |
2022 | Alyson Rawlings | Melissa Leffel | Sydnie Morgan | Cindy Landeros |
2021 | Marla Reeves | Kendra Ledbetter | Madeline Rudolph | Samadhi Pusuba Devayalage |
2020 | Megan Fraser | Elizabeth Ocampo-Roman | Madilyn Littlefield | Yudith Martinez |
2019 | Melissa Walker | Bailey Pearson | Naomi Gillett | Machen Beard |
2018 | Kelly Thomas | Sydnie Wilkins | Jasmine Nile | Lindsay Richards |
2017 | Maureen Fernicola | Abigail Kymer-Davis | Rebecca Torres | |
2016 | Laura Baxter |
Award Descriptions
Mentor of the Year — This is awarded to an off-campus clinical supervisor of our graduate students each year. Graduate students provide nominations and a program committee narrows the nominations down to determine a winner each year. This award provides the program and our graduate students an opportunity to highlight the work of off-campus clinical supervisors who often go far above and beyond the requirements of clinical supervision. We know that our clinical supervisors are some of the best in the country and this provides a small way for us to show our appreciation for all they do.
Outstanding Clinician — This award goes to a second-year graduate student who has consistently received high clinical skills evaluations from UA Faculty as well as their off-campus clinical supervisors. Top scoring students are reviewed each year and a faculty vote is completed to determine the winner of this award. This student is one who takes pride in and critically thinks through lesson planning to make sure speech-language therapy sessions are not only well designed for the individual’s needs, but also are motivating and functional for the individual. Additionally, this student is noted to maintain excellent clinical documentation and exhibit outstanding skills in professionalism.
Outstanding Student — This award goes to a second-year graduate student who has set themselves apart in both clinical and academic contexts of the program. Faculty nominate students and a faculty vote is completed the determine the winner of this award. This is a student who has not only done well academically, but who has consistently participated in opportunities outside the classroom to further their education. This might include things like completing a Master’s Thesis, participating in a research lab, completing a project, or participating or organizing a community service event.
Emerging Excellence — This award goes to a first-year gradate student who has set themselves apart in the classroom and as a student-clinician. This student is well-prepared for class assignments and clinical experiences and demonstrates an ability to motivate classmates to think critically and engage in scholarly discussions. Students are nominated by faculty and a faculty vote is completed to determine the winner of this award.